Available online
Description
The first part of this programme looks at how a letter sorting machine could be designed, in order to illustrate the use of groups. The second part of the programme examines the properties of groups.
The first part of this programme looks at how a letter sorting machine could be designed, in order to illustrate the use of groups. The second part of the programme examines the properties of groups.
| Module code and title: | M101, Mathematics: a foundation course |
|---|---|
| Item code: | M101; 27 |
| Recording date: | 14-11-1977 |
| First transmission date: | 20-08-1978 |
| Published: | 1978 |
| Rights Statement: | |
| Restrictions on use: | |
| Duration: | 00:24:30 |
| + Show more... | |
| Producer: | John Jaworski |
| Contributors: | Don Mansfield; Allan I.,1936-2013 Solomon |
| Publisher: | BBC Open University |
| Keyword(s): | ALF machine; Equilateral triangle; Group theory; Letter facing; Post Office |
| Footage description: | The programme begins with shots of letters being sorted at a G.P.O. sorting office. The work; is done by the automatic letter facing machine. The actions taken by this machine are used in the programme to illustrate group theory. Don Mansfield describes the actions carried out by the machine. These are, no action, rotation and flips through horizontal and vertical axes. Allan Solomon describes how such a machine might work and then goes on to consider how combinations of movements might be used to reduce waste. Don Mansfield builds up a table of these combinations and from this Allan shows how a second version of the machine could operate using fewer actions. The post office sorting machine is shown again, this time in slow motion, demonstrating the actions involved. The programme now examines the properties of a group. In order to show these more clearly Don Mansfield constructs a table of possible combinations of flips and rotations of equilateral triangles. From these group tables Allan Solomon extracts the properties of a group, which he then establishes as the axioms for group. |
| Master spool number: | DOU2716 |
| Production number: | 00525_4265 |
| Videofinder number: | 2489 |
| Available to public: | no |
